Sydney - Glencore, the world’s biggest exporter of power-station coal, will cut Australian production this year and delay some projects amid a global glut.
Output in Australia will drop by 15 million metric tons, the Baar, Switzerland-based company said today in an emailed statement. That’s equal to about 15 percent of its managed coal production there last year.
The move follows Glencore’s decision earlier this month to reduce spending amid waning demand for raw materials with Macquarie Group Ltd forecasting that miners will scale back expenditure by $20 billion this year.
Glencore also halted production last year at its Australian mines for three weeks as prices languished at a five-year low.
The output cuts will come from measures including scaling back some open pit mining and organisational changes, Glencore said.
“In addition to the direct operational changes we will defer some projects and ensure that inventory management and blending are optimised,” Glencore said in the statement without specifying what projects would be affected.
Glencore will cut planned expenditure this year to a range between $6.5 billion and $6.8 billion from a December target of $7.9 billion, the company said earlier this month.
Fourth- quarter coal production declined 13 percent to 34.9 million metric tons from the preceding three months.
Bloomberg